Whether it 's Mohammed becoming the most popular baby name , or one in 10 babies in England being Muslim or the fact that halal meat is being served in Pizza Hut , a Muslim story always tends to generate more heat than light .

Indeed , Islamophobia is often perpetuated by fear and a sense that Muslims are taking over our jobs , our homes and our lives , thus leading to a polarizing society and the so-called clash of civilizations .

And it 's common to see issues such as the name of Mohammed being used by the far-right into vitriolic hate against Muslims . Take for example the Daily Mail headline in January 2014 : `` One in 10 babies in England is a Muslim : Those practising the religion ` could soon outnumber actively worshipping Christians . ' '' The article , which was accompanied by an image of two Muslim women wearing the face veil , showed this pervading sense of online anti-Muslim hate emerge with comments such as : `` Surprise , surprise , ban the burka now before its too late !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! '' and `` This has to stop this is a Christian country the next thing sharia law . ''

Improving media practices and media responsibility on portraying and reporting fairly on Islam and British Muslims , without bias or discrimination or intent to incite anti-Muslim prejudice , is important . The media must provide a more responsible , objective and proportionate way of reporting on stories .

Unfortunately , though , the stories above are not isolated . In The Sun last year an article entitled , `` Ramadan a ding-dong , '' again provided a sensationalized and biased viewpoint that seeks to undermine all Muslims and portray Islam in a negative light . As a result , we are seeing British Muslims as a group suffer as a result of bad journalism that fuels extremist and far-right fringe groups such as Anjem Choudary and Muslims for Crusades .

Sadly , stories such as these help to create an atmosphere that has demonized Muslims and fueled an anti-Muslim narrative . Indeed , such reporting and representation of British Muslims also helps create the framework for the `` othering '' of communities and in particular may influence people 's perceptions of Muslims , especially when combined with lazy journalism that fails to correctly represent the true facts of each case .

Let 's not forget , for example , the story from 2010 , when windows were being covered up at a central English leisure center . The Daily Mail headlined its story : `` Swimmers plunged into dark after council covers swimming pool windows ` to protect Muslim women 's modesty . '' The council revealed later though that the requests to black out the windows had not come solely from the Muslim community .

And we also know from previous studies looking at media coverage about Muslims , in particular post 9/11 , that the weight of news stories -- even if individually factually accurate -- often stereotypes Muslims in an overwhelmingly negative light .

For example , a study conducted by academics at Cardiff University found that the majority of news coverage post-9 / 11 about Muslims was negative . Their research into media coverage of British Muslims found that at least two-thirds of newspaper articles were focused around stories on terrorism .

These stories often used the words such as `` militancy '' and `` radicalism '' to depict Muslims in an overtly negative fashion and were a product of a wider anti-Muslim prejudice which they found across British newspapers . Interestingly , they also found that common adjectives used to describe Muslims included the words '' ` radical , '' `` fanatical '' and `` fundamentalist . ''

So whether it 's getting stories factually incorrect or describing Muslims as a security threat , there is clearly a backlash against Muslims online and offline with threatening comments that are both extremely inflammatory and promote Islamophobia .

This negativity is framed within the construct that Muslims are dangerous people , and creates a `` them vs. us '' mentality that can be highly damaging for community relations . Now is the time for action to reverse this trend , and as Mehdi Hasan suggests , `` sanctions for dishonest and demonizing press coverage of Muslims '' might be one way to ensure that we start to see a balanced coverage that does not demonize or stereotype Muslims .

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Islamophobia is often perpetuated by fear , sense that Muslims are taking over our jobs , says Imran Awan

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Awan : Media must provide more responsible , objective and proportionate way of reporting

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Misleading stories create atmosphere that has demonized Muslims , fueling anti-Muslim narrative , he says

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Media negativity is framed within construct that Muslims are dangerous people , Awan argues